Re: [TruthTalk] Saved - Salvation

[Caroline Wong]

Wow, JD. That is incredible. I will pray for you and I praise God for you.   Love,   Caroline ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: TruthTalk@mail.innglory.org Sent: Monday, April 18, 2005 11:14 PM Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] Saved - Salvation In a message dated 4/18/2005 10:19:08 AM Pacific Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: It is a long story. Perhaps I'll send you an attachment off list. I did not accomplish it. (Your choice of words is telling, BTW.) God accomplished it. I have been very unclear if it seems I am trying to rule out Scripture! (I think I said not less than Scripture, but more than Scripture.) I have been exposed to Scripture since birth, and I believe the Holy Spirit has worked on me from birth. I was very familiar with Scripture before I really experienced and apprehended my relationship with Christ, after which the character of Scripture changed for me. Ultimately, I would say God brought me; he himself made me know, in my heart. I remember coming back to the Lord  --   which was not a coming back at all;  just a continuation of the journey that is my life.   But  I was raised in the church  --   was always involved;   never experienced the Lord.   I knew about Him, like so many.   I wanted to know Him in a different way  --  but did not know how to accomplish this  --   often praying on my office floor, prostrate on the ground, never really knowing what my prostate had to do with anything   (sorry  -----------   I couldn't resist).   And then the divorce.   I was willing to overlook her wrong if it kept the family and us together.   But it happened and I was out on my ear as far as preaching was concerned.   New career time   --     and new church time.   It is not easy to move from the church you are raised in to another.   Not easy at all.    I remember the first time I worshipped while musical instruments were playing.   I remember the first time I took communion on a day other than Sunday.   Change is a rather involved distraction.    I knew my bible.   I had memorized whole books of the bible. I was very familiar with its pages.  But no experience.  In the years between '87 and '97   --   I left off the study of the written word and lived my life as best I could.   And in '97, 40 years after my water baptism,   I experienced the Lord in a dynamic way, prayed for,   years and years earlier.    The difference, for me, is this "immersion" thing.   I immersed myself in Him  -- all I read was of faith; the music was praise;  my fellowship with others was with believers  --  no Rush;  Chrsitian tapes and CD's.   No news.   After 10 years of being away from the Book,  I found this second trip a real trip.   And I was on this "high" for well over 2 years.   My addictions were gone.   And I was growing away from the character flaws that distinguish me for who I am.   Anyway  --  in the interm, since that time,   the high was lost and my addiction became more of a pronounced battle.    Beginning the end of last year   (Nov '04),  I decided to involve myself in this process of immersion into Christ.   And it is having precisely the same effect.   It has taken several months, the effects are the same.  I want to point to out something in regard to the progression -  my progression -   as a result of this immersion.    I was increasingly aware of the changes within  --   growing and more pronounced each day.   It has only been the last three or four days that these changes really became obvious   ---   outward and in the open.   This is exactly why, IMO, the law has been our tutor  --  introducing us to the Spirit.   JD